School Committee Meeting - September 8. 2025

Recording in progress

All right, good evening everyone.

We are ready to get this party started. Welcome to this September 8th meeting of the Somerville School Committee. Pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the school committee will be conducted via hybrid participation. We will post an audio recording, audio-video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive records of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. Dr. Carmona, will you please call the roll?

Through the Chair, Ms. Piton.

Here.

Dr. Ackman? Here. Mr. Green? Mr. Biton? Here. The nick of time. President Davis? Mayor Ballantyne? Present. Ms. Barish?

Here.

Dr. Phillips?

Present.

Chair Krepchin?

Here.

We have quorum.

All right. We will start with a moment of silence and a salute to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, that brings us to the report of the superintendent, Dr. Carmona.

Thank you. So good evening, everyone. We are almost two weeks into the new school year, and I'm happy to share that all of our schools have experienced a very smooth and positive start of the school year. So last week our pre-kindergarteners and kindergarten students began their school year. I was at the Capuano watching Parents saying goodbye to the kids who were eagerly walking away while they were in tears. And I also saw the opposite. I saw students in tears while they were watching their parents eagerly walk away. So to all our parents, especially our new kindergarten parents, welcome to Somerville. So we also began with a convocation after the first day of school. I want to thank our chair, Krepchin, who joined us as a judge for the school chair competition. And I know we gather all our staff at the high school.

It's hard to get to the high school, but I always have insisted that to be a community, we have to be in community. So it was really wonderful to welcome our entire staff and we were able to celebrate a new beginning and they were showcasing their creativity and their spirit. and this year again Winter Hill took home the school cheer title and congratulations to the Winter Hill School the Wildcats for their joy and creativity They were really enthusiastic. I also wanted to congratulate the entire district because they expressed themselves very warmly to the entire community. We also heard from Mayor Ballantyne during the speech and from a graduate from the Somerville High School who told us about her journey and how our schools help her succeed in life.

It was a powerful speech that earned a standing ovation, and we thank Ms. Catherine Nacato, Class of 2015, for being part of this year's convocation. At the top of my report, I have some exciting acknowledgments that I want to share with all of you. First, we received some wonderful news about one of our teachers at East Somerville Community School, Eleanor Burke. She is an ESL teacher. She has received the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Award from the U.S. Department of State and Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Award. Yes, that's a big deal. She's one of our 400 master teachers and administrators who participate in research exchange or serve as English teaching assistants in schools abroad. This equips educators to bring an international perspective

to their schools, and we look forward to learning more about this professional opportunity for Eleanor as well as East Somerville School. I also want to celebrate Principal Kirsten, Alicia Kirsten and her team at the Somerville High School. The school has received continued accreditation in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. So during their visit last spring, the commission identified 12 priority areas of growth where the high school met or exceeded most recommendations following the NIASC previous collaborative visit This is a wonderful accomplishment as a credit to the entire administration and staff of the high school. So congratulations to the high school team. I'm going to shift gears a little bit. I'd like to touch on critical facility updates.

First, in your package, you will see that the city has developed a memo to update the community on the MSBA school building project for the Winter Hill and potentially the Brown School. So I'm pleased to share that the city has worked collaboratively with my team to ensure that we're making progress to secure state funding for a new school. A few highlights that I want to discuss. The MSBA School Building Committee has met twice and is working with the city and SPS staff along with the OPM to hire a design architecture firm for the project. also the construction advisory group which has been tasked to provide the mayor with recommendations about whether the project scope should also include the brown and of course the location where it should be located has met through the summer and is scheduled to provide recommendations to the mayor in November. So overall, the city continues to confirm we are on track within the MSBA process

to have a new school building constructed by late 2031. Also later tonight, I will be discussing potential use of the Cummings School for a warming center. So I look forward to continuing a thoughtful discussion that acknowledges the community need, while balancing the need of the district to ensure our space are being preserved for use should the need arise. I also want to note for discussion that our central office teams, now located at the Tufts Administrative Building, were also impacted by the Winter Hill move to the Agile Building. Our offices moved from the Adelaide to the top, and while we very much appreciated the tops and the city for their efforts to relocate us under emergency circumstances, I want to take this opportunity to share the continued student and family needs that exist in the top building for the district.

And now that we have been in this space for several years, I would like to point a couple of things. With additional space available to the city in the top building, I'd like the community to be aware of the following priorities for the district in the top building. Currently, our SFLC is in the third floor. Pretty much in a corner next to the finance and payroll departments. So we hope to have a more accessible location for the department that receives approximately 600 students and their families per year and provides much needed support, wraparound supports and warm welcome to our families that need it the most. I also want to highlight the significant expansion in enrollment of our SCALE program, which runs 12 morning classes, 14 evening classes, and will be running an additional three HVAC classes in the coming weeks.

All of these represents an additional 100 enrolled students in the past two years, with 700 wait-listed individuals seeking to attend our program and bolster job readiness for Somerville residents and beyond. Just a quick fact, in 2024, we have 19 referrals out of those 15 register and 13 finish the program. Also this year we have so far eight students that have been referred and three of those already have been registered. These are students that often are over age and their role. These are students who in some cases have a lot of anxieties and also many of the students are MLE students who also lack the proper language skills and also might have to work to support their families.

So I just wanted to highlight that the role that skill plays in the entire support, especially in the equity balance that we are creating, is critical for the functioning of our district. And as we continue to discuss the Cummings School space, the Wurman Center, and other critical school facility matters, I welcome the continued collaboration with our city partners to ensure our spaces, including the top building, are being maximally utilized to best serve our students, families, and community. With that, I am ready to kick off district presentations which are focused on the two pillars of our strategic plan, academic excellence and equity and access. As educators, we know that every child deserves not just a space in the classroom, but a genuine chance to succeed by ensuring that each child has the tools and the guidance they need to become independent learners.

Tonight, we'll discuss our vision for academic performance across our schools, highlight areas of growth, and also confront areas where gaps still may persist. But just as importantly, we'll examine how these outcomes reflect our ongoing commitment to educational equity, because we know that when equity and access are prioritized, positive academic outcomes follow. With that, I would like to ask our Assistant Superintendent of Academics, Dr. Jessica Boston-Davis, to offer our first academic report to the new year.

Thank you through the chair. Good evening, everyone. I'm excited to just share with you our first quarter academic update. As a reminder, these are started last year to Advanced Communication at the whole full committee level. And often we go down into more granular details in the Ed program subcommittee. So the goal of this memo is just to give a beginning of the year update. Some of the big things that have been top of mind for my department as we start our school year. It's not exhaustive. So it's not everything, and it is very high level, but we hope to just give you an overview of where we're heading in terms of academics for the start of the school year. So I'll give a high level overview and then happy to entertain any questions.

To start the memo, you'll see the grants that we named at our last meeting are listed here with a little bit more specificity. That's the PRISM grant, the Nellie Mae Navigating Now, District Response Support grant, and also the Barr Foundation grant. One thing that didn't make it to this memo but should have been mentioned also is the targeted assistance grant that we received from the state from DESE as a result of our accountability data from last year. So we received that specifically for the Winterhill and the East Somerville school communities and that was a two it's two years so we were it's continuing this year. The next section of the memo is an overview of something new in our district, which is a vision of excellent instruction.

So we are really excited and I recognize that this is just a document but there has been a lot that went into it and we have very high hopes of how this can be a roadmap and helpful for coherence and alignment in our academics moving forward. So at a very high level, and you can read more in the memo, We worked with all of our administrators starting in August of last year based on actually feedback from the principals the year prior. and we worked with all of our administrators over several working sessions. We then presented it to all educators at our whole district PDs and received feedback. We read through every single piece of feedback that we received and revised and then shared it again at a later district PD. And we came up with this vision for excellent instruction. We hope that we use this to guide some of our thinking.

We will be using it in our first instructional rounds going forward so we help to align our vision for school leaders as the instructional leaders in their buildings. For professional development, for coaching, for common planning time. The goal here is that this is a document that helps us say when we talk about what Great instruction looks like we have it documented somewhere because initially there was a kind of a piece of feedback of Well what does what does excellent instruction even look like here? And so that was a pretty iterative and comprehensive process to create a document that will be living throughout and so that will likely be referenced later throughout the school year. Next section in the memo are curriculum rollout updates. This is a familiar document to you as it's been updated every single year. and so now you you'll see that we are really implementing at all levels from the K through 8

There's also additional work coming, but because a huge amount of work is happening in the K-8 curriculum. And with that, and something for the committee to know, a lot of investment in resources. We've increased our curriculum budget this year so that we are able to pay for a large amount of curriculum rollout, which is very exciting. But that's how you'll see that and I'm sure in the finance and facilities meeting you'll see that as a larger line item now. So that's the rollout of curriculum. Happy to entertain questions if that feels helpful. We also did a data-driven decision-making kickoff in our launch. And so that we just really are trying to use our vision for academic excellence. and centering data to move forward as a district. And this is really aligned to the strategic plan. So I talk a little bit about that.

and then two final areas one our MTSS updates I know this has been a topic of the committee and likely will be a full presentation later but as a high-level update we do have a new position this year the MTSS Specialist, which is now district-wide. It did live in the early ed department last year and we have that same person who helped build a really robust system at the early ed level, helping to support us at our district-wide and kind of continue the work that Bobby Beretta started last year as his focus of his doctoral work. and we also are continuing our partnership with Boston Children's to support our MTSS work. And the final section of the memo are additional updates So these are a little bit random, but just things just to keep top in mind. One, that we created this Dyslexia Action Plan. It is available on our website.

and I think in a nutshell what it our our first kind of priority is to build solid tier one core foundation and also think about What are our consistent supports across Tier 2? And so that's in a nutshell, but there's much more detail in that action plan. Also, just a preview, that MCAS data is coming up and in our October 6th meeting, Sam Elagine, Director for Data, will be doing a full presentation. And finally, this is a good preview for this committee, competency determination. What you might remember is that last year we passed a one-year policy for a local competency determination while we waited for guidance from the state. The state has provided more guidance towards the end of July and now every district in Massachusetts will have to determine their own local

There's a lot more coming, but we will have to pass A policy in Somerville by the end of December and that will be published on DESE's website along with both of our high school's graduation requirements. Lots more detail coming there. That's a really packed, but that was just like a preview of something that will likely be coming in the next few weeks. With that, I'm happy to entertain any questions.

Okay. Ms. Barish and Mr. Green.

thank you through you um lots of exciting stuff in this memo um i just wanted to check in about the competency determination policy if you expect that that will be going through rules or if it'll be coming directly to the full committee I just want to make sure that I make room in our meetings for that if needed

Thank you to the chair that's a great question my I thought that we would come straight to the full committee but I think that's up to the processes which you prefer and if that If you first like that to be, you know, kind of go through rules, we're totally okay with that. I think what we're planning on doing on our end, I have a meeting scheduled with some Administrators that this kind of is falls squarely with in terms of their responsibilities and we are looking to Collaborate with other districts and draft some ideas to share with the committee for consideration in the same way that we did last year. So I think the process by which you believe the committee would best you know go either through rules first or to the full committee I think we're open to I think we can play it by ear at this point but thank you for flagging that Ms. Barish uh Mr. Green I think actually

I think Eleanor actually asked one of my questions, which was about the process for approving the curriculum. I did have another question earlier, and I apologize. I'm curious, how much are we paying currently in rent for the TAB building? I don't think you have that number off the top of your head. Why would you? But if I could get that answer, that'd be great. Yeah. I'd be a little worried if that was the top of your head.

Mr. Biton?

Thank you, Chair, through you. Wow, that table of curricula is, I know how much work you've been doing, but seeing it all laid out in this way really drives it home. How much we are investing in the future of this district, really bringing up the quality My question around that is how are we supporting I just want to make sure we're poised to succeed in the rollout of all of these different items.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the question. It's something that we have been very, very thoughtful about, even the staggering. So you can kind of see that it almost looks like stairs because we didn't want one grade band to be implementing more than one curriculum. So that was the very first answer to your question is we were very thoughtful about when and who is rolling out or implementing new curriculum at one time. The second thing is, and I really have to lift up and shout out Kathleen Seward and Paula O'Sullivan who are really the ones who are leading this work and they're doing a phenomenal job and it's a big job. They have I'll give, for example, for our ELA curriculum, they offered and most, the vast majority of educators were trained over the summer. So they offered that. If you weren't, then that's okay.

But I think over 50 for the grade band rolling out new curricula this year were trained over the summer. And so there were just a few, a handful of educators also will receive training early in the school year so that's the start they do an initial full kind of overview of what the curriculum is and then we have unit previews throughout the school year and so what that looked like last year is we would actually find coverage for educators and they would come to central office or wherever their meeting location sometimes they were at schools I went to one at Winter Hill for example and and we would have a consultant come in and that would also be co-facilitated by Paula or Kathleen being given the subject area and they would a few weeks before the unit would begin they would talk through unit meaning a section of the curriculum that's getting ready to be taught maybe a month before talk through all of what students are supposed to know what they're supposed to be able to do you know they would

I sat in on several of these be able to say like oh we really want to focus in on this this actually doesn't show up in the standard so I'm not going to focus in on that as much and really talk through as a community Peers that teach the same grade what to expect. So that was one. Our coaches have been phenomenal. So our coaches have also been really key in rolling out new curricula. So not only do they attend the unit previews, but then they're in the classrooms The coaches have prioritized the grade levels that are implementing new curriculum. And this year what's really exciting is also we will be using some common planning time together. to roll in some of those unit previews so that educators don't need to miss so much of the school day. I mean, I know a lot of people were like,

I don't want to miss teaching so it helps to use some of the time that we already have together so that's kind of a high level plan but it's it's really a robust and another The next kind of high budget item is the PD to support. We have partners with Lesley University for example to support this implementation.

Yeah, quick follow-up if I may, and thank you. That was extremely helpful. It would be really useful for me to see if this is at all feasible, the hours of PD targeted for each of these boxes. At some point, just so that we can kind of see how much additional effort is going into Not only how much we're paying for each of these, we already know that, but how we're investing in our teachers to make sure it's all clicking into place. does that so like if we were investing I don't know like an hour for you know this top blue box that might feel you know like A little light.

So it would just be nice to see how much time we're throwing at this and how teachers are being supported. Thank you.

Thank you. I think we can work on that together and figure out an approximate time for each of the Yeah, that's totally fine. There's one thing I wanted to also mention that I wrote down as you were asking your question. I think this really speaks to how I mean amazing our teachers are and especially implementing new curricula we often see this will be spoken about a little bit more when our MCAS data is public and we can speak at it at great length but we often see an implementation dip or we It's normal, it's common, I'll say that, to see when you're implementing new curricula, even if it's a high quality instructional material and that's what we're implementing, There to be a dip in student outcomes for a number of reasons. And our data, we did not see that this year, both as measured by I-Ready and

When we're able to, we can speak a little bit about the growth with MCAS. So that also kind of speaks to not only the work that our educators put in, but also the preparation from Kathleen and Paula. Kathleen I'm thinking about specifically in terms of the ELA and making sure that our educators had the resources to be able to teach.

So I just have a quick question, and then Dr. Phillips, can you just mention for those watching at home who may not know exactly what MTSS is?

Yes. MTSS, thank you, through the chair, through you, chair, MTSS are multi-tiered systems of support and what that means is really like simply We typically envision this in three tiers. Bobby Barretta who was our superintendent fellow last year and focused his all of his doctoral work on strengthening our MTSS in our district would tell you there's no set MTSS. In our classrooms, the curricula that we're rolling out is really to impact every single student. And this can be academically or social-emotionally. I happen to just give an example of academics.

Tier 2 is for sometimes smaller groups of students, more differentiation meeting the more specific needs of students. And that's just fewer students. And Tier 3 is that top tier which is Very few students, but every now and then a student will need the individualized support. And so it's how are we structuring and creating systems in our schools to really make sure students get everything that they need and get the supports based on that tier. I will say that we have revised our DCAP, our district curriculum accommodation plan. The A always gets me. Accommodation plan, which does describe and define MTSS, and that is found on our academics webpage under resources. That was revised last year under the leadership of Bobby Barreto.

Thank you. Dr. Phillips? There's so much in this memo that's really exciting, but I just want to give you all kudos for this amazing vision of excellent instruction. Not only is the product that you all created so cool, But the process you went through is also equally cool and speaks to how much we care about having all voices at the table when we're making decisions. I think families and many of our students would be really into this so the more you can get the word out even better the more you collect people's feedback I think it will be very positive and people will be really psyched about this but The more we all share this vision, the more we can all reach this vision. So kudos to you.

I had another quick question. The targeted assistance grant that you mentioned for the Winter Hill in the East, what are we using it to do?

Thank you, through you, Chair. Great, great question. So that is being used for a lot of curriculum materials at Winter Hill. You know, including I-Ready, personalized instruction, so different curricular materials and I can pull up my notes and find those exactly out. Different tier two reading supports, for example. We have some Decodables, which are texts that are Thank you. Thank you. We also have some great professional development

So Winterhill, for example, is partnering with Boston College, I believe through Lynch Leadership Academy, but this time in a different way to think really deeply about... It's basically culturally responsive teaching I would say like a level deeper than kind of a 101 level so it's really thinking so for example at I think it was their opening PD and I'm looking at Dr. Carmona because I think you popped in at for a second I mean they talked about legacies and interestingly enough and I know that our director for equity and excellence is gonna come up in a moment interestingly enough in the Start of the Equity Policy.

It talks about confronting systemic oppression, things such as redlining and systems and structures that were created that And so the professional development that Lynch is facilitating at Winterhill aims to do just that to confront some of the legacies and the Background and histories of what might be creating disparities in outcomes and helping educators reflect on and shift practices as a result of that. So really deep, meaningful professional development along with the majority of it is curriculum materials.

Thank you. All right, if there are no, yep, Dr. Phillips.

Sorry, through you to Mr. Green, I believe you asked a question about the lease on the TAB building. I pulled up the actual lease. It's available online. I'm sure when the city gets up, they can correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks to me like the base lease from March 1st, 2025 to February 28th, 2026 is a little over $2 million.

First of all, thank you, Dr. Phillips. I saw your email, I appreciated it. But actually my question, actually I have a question for you, Dr. Davis. First, I want to echo all of the appreciation around how much work this is. I believe I said in one of At some point we were evaluating Ruben. That like getting a new curriculum launched is for most districts, like the thing they had to do. Like that's enough to be a superintendent's legacy. And we're here doing this alongside Getting a new building built alongside getting a new progressive contract. The amount of work that was done by this district last year It's stupendous. And I want to make sure that people who don't follow that kind of thing understand just how productive our central office was last year.

And now comes the hard part, right? I would love to understand more about, you know, beyond test scores. We always say we don't really like those so much. What are some of the early indicators we're going to see this year and maybe even the next year that what we're doing is working?

Thank you to the chair. What comes to my mind immediately is like a joy and excitement and an engagement with learning. We want to, we, I think as a team, as a district want to see kids excited and engaged in their learning. I sat in on a classroom at the East, a middle grades classroom and I mean, I had goosebumps. This was a teacher who had rolled out the new fish tank curriculum. Watching a Socratic seminar, The way the middle schoolers were engaged, they all had their books open and they were debating one another passionately I had never seen middle school kids that excited, every single one of them, at the East

A lot of diverse learning and needs in that room. Students who are on different levels of even acquiring English in that room All engaged and able to access a really rich and relevant task. So I think when what I'm hoping to see an early indicator is engagement and joy beyond you know, all kind of A boring experience. And that's what I've seen in some of the classrooms. I think about first graders with illustrative math Mathematics and developing their language with one another, their mathematical language with one another is really remarkable. It is beyond the worksheets where we did timed multiplication that we grew up doing. And so it's a really deep,

and many more. So it's really about understanding of what students are learning, what they're learning, They go from class to class to class all day. And as they grow into middle schoolers, they're very aware. I'm going from class to class to class. What does this mean for who I am and who I'm becoming? And so I think, you know, That is what I'm hoping to see and you can walk into a classroom and see that right away. Now, how does that translate into what we see, say, on an MCAS? I'm confident that it does, but obviously that takes a little bit longer to see. But that's some of the engagement that I'm hoping to see. I don't know Dr. Carmona, is there anything else you would add to that?

I think the response around engagement is the true metric of growth. But I think that I always am a firm believer that when kids are engaged, learning happens. And so the other benchmarks like iReady or DIBELS will move along. I yeah again we cannot discuss them because data is embargoed at this point there's some trends that we see that are positive there's some other trends we have to address but overall I think that both The level of engagement and independent learning that happens when students thrive should happen along with other indicators that reflect the level of discourse, reflect the level of Engagement, Intellectual Journey. So I think that those two go hand in hand. IREADY is one metric that we can see on a regular basis, and DEVILS as well. So we'll be keeping a close eye on those indicators, yeah.

As a passionate champion of liberal arts, you had me at Socratic Dialogue, especially as a parent of a sixth grader, so thank you.

Dr. Atkins? Thank you through the chair. While I'm not sure I can offer the level of broad praise that my colleague has, as someone who has spent a large part of my career embedded in literacy that noting that piece of the you know the texts that are of interest to older kids who may still be struggling in reading is massive it I mean even As recently as like five years ago going into the pandemic finding that was just nearly impossible and I know that due to you know a lot of you know literacy challenges that have in part stemmed from pandemic and other learning you know and many more.

Thank you. you know we want to meet students where they're at and grow them and you know I've seen struggling readers not want a baby book so many times and so to provide them something that is of interest is like It shows how much you care and that we're literally investing, so thank you.

Okay. If there are no further questions on this, Dr. Carmona?

Thank you, thank you Dr. Boston-Davis for that summary of the instructional work that has happened. We pair up both The academics and equity because that's part of what defines us is academic excellence and equity. I think they are the two sides of the coin. We cannot talk about of Excellence, or equity alone without talking about excellence. So we will be teeing up the conversation to have the Director of Equity and Excellence, Kaylee Galletano, in one second, but I wanted to highlight the point that A lot of what was said, I will just try to summarize that we understand that all our students They all come in different packages, different sizes. They all come with different skills. That's why we need to have systems that actually respond to their needs, whether they're emotionally, or academic needs. And that's why systems like MTSS allow us to do that. We have invested on that. Are we there yet?

No. We just this year invested on a system to actually strengthen that system. Part of a new curriculum requires that teachers also identify how to manage this new car and then how to actually drive without drinking coffee and then looking out of the window. So it's hard for teachers to be differentiating and creating scaffolds to students when they are just getting their hands into these new systems. So I want you to I want to highlight the gap that Dr. Dave is just talking about is that it is natural after you are getting to a program in math, a program in literacy, and Social Justice, a program in science. Make sense of these components requires teachers to take time. to delve into teams to think about how we do this better. And I'm a firm believer that we do better when we know better. So kudos to our educators.

We are as good as every classroom teacher in our system. So we continue to invest in that, but I wanted to highlight that equity is here because it is and so with that I'm going to have our director of equity and excellence Kelly Gallitano to highlight some of the strengths of our system.

Thank you, Dr. Carmona. Good evening, everyone. I'm Kaylee Gallitano. I'm the proud director of Equity and Excellence for the Somerville Public School District. And next slide, please. I'm going to give a brief overview of the department's mission, the primary supports, the buckets of work that we are doing, Share a brief summary of SEAT, share some highlights and data, and finally spotlight celebrations and observances throughout the district. Next slide, please. The Department of Equity partners across schools and communities to transform systems and provide equitable, culturally relevant, and anti-racist learning for all students. That in a nutshell is our mission. Next slide please. Here we have the wheels of support. There are two wheels. There is one for students and there is one for staff.

The one for students, you'll see that there are a lot of human resources around that wheel. It includes staff, equity specialists, equity team members, as well as the student equity action team, which is SEAT, which I will talk about a little bit more later. In the wheel surrounding our staff, we also have our human resources, which are school-based administration, central administration. We also have centralized resources, and those include documents and texts. One text would be the culturally responsive teaching in the brain. That's an anchor text that we use throughout the district. We also have other centralized resources online as well. Next slide, please. And this is our bucket of work. The first petal on the flower is our principal meetings.

and the principal meetings allow for identifying of strengths and gaps through observation walks and collaborative practices. and the next pedal is our instructional leadership team the district instructional leadership team or a DILT and what DILT does is bring together educators leaders and departments department heads to improve instruction, school climate, and student outcomes through evidence-based strategies. and the next one is our professional development pedal and and one of the things that we're doing in the department of equity and excellence is we are on our The third year of our year two educator series. It is a mandatory series for all of year two educators. The anchor text for that is culturally responsive teaching in the brain by Zaretta Hammond and what that helps is helping

Guide educators in understanding and implementing practices that are culturally responsive and as well as brain-based. of Instructional Practices. There's the Data Steering Committee, and that's a newly developed committee. And as a part of the Data Steering Committee, my role is to connect efforts across the district By helping teams collect, share, and assess data consistently. The work supports alignment, continuous improvement, and our shared commitment to student success and it allows for different department heads and central staff to be in a room together so that those silos are kind of knocked down and we can connect those dots across departments in a more meaningful way. and the last petal is student voice and that is an integral part of improving instruction and last year we launched we launched Seed which is the student equity action team and I'll talk a little bit more about that on the next slide.

so the student equity action team it is the student arm of the school improvement plans we have one it's a middle grade program so any school that has middle grades and when i say middle grades i mean six seven and eight They have the SEAT program in their school. And SEAT is helping to design solutions to the challenges that students have uncovered through their peer-based research. It is the work that the kids do is in line with the district's strategic plan and is a collaborative effort between the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Somerville Public Schools. Next slide, please. This is a video that we have. So I wanted to give the perspectives from school administration, from the students and from the staff and how SEAT is going. So Glenda Soto, I almost said president, and Principal Glenda Soto.

We're gonna have a video from her talking about her experience at the Argentiano School.

This is our second year having the partnership with Harvard University where our middle school students have the opportunity to do a research project that can help us This year, the student's research project was around student and adult relationships, and our School Improvement Council uses the conditions for learning survey to gather information about how students feel at the school but they wanted to hear directly the students voices and the seat The research project gave us the opportunity to hear directly from students about how their relationships or interactions with staff and students is and how they feel at the Argenciano School. So we share the findings of the SEED project with our school improvement council. We share them with our instructional leadership team. and recently during the first PD this year, we shared the findings with the whole school staff and we shared the video so they could hear it directly from the students and not from us.

The most valuable part of the students project was the suggestions of things that we need to continue to do or do better or start new. in order to continue to foster student-adult relationships. For example, they suggested us having a mailbox where they can put suggestions for staff or any problem that they see so that the principal can see it and then we can work on it. they suggested that we continue anti-bias training which we have done in the past but they still see the need for it and some professional development of our own student voices so our school improvement council instructional leadership team are using those suggestions to make change in our school in our school community thank you Glenda great thank you next slide please

The next slide has some quotes from students and staff who were involved with SEED and what that work looked like for them. My favorite quote is the second one, and it's the one, I wasn't very confident at first, but after the first year, I got a huge ego boost. We kind of felt unstoppable. Like we can do whatever now. So that was the purpose behind this project is to have the kids really tap into their power. That power exists. So I don't like to say the term we empower them. They have that power. We just help them to realize it. That was a little heart happy moment. Next slide, please. And now I'm going to cover just some bright spots in our data. And one of the bright spots that,

But I also do want to start by saying before I get right into the data is that when I talk about data in the presentation, I want to emphasize that data isn't just numbers. It's a reflection of our students' experiences, and we use it with care to guide evidence-based decisions that promote academic growth, emotional well-being, and equity for all of our students. and some of the bright spots that are up here is the school leadership retention is high and it's remaining consistent at 90% which is wonderful. The other one that stood out to me when looking through some of the data was our chronic absenteeism going down and specifically we've seen a decrease and Chronic Absenteeism at the high school, particularly in our Black students, our Hispanic and Latin A students, and our multilingual learning populations. And yeah, it's great.

This is really important because you know as we know in order for students to learn they have to be present, they have to be there, they have to want to be there and have that excitement that Dr. Davis talked about earlier. And then there's just some other data on there. And those things are pulled from the quotes that start with students, then staff, then families. That's information that was pulled from our conditions for learning survey. Next slide, please. So as we think about our data and the high points that we see, there are also gaps that we know exist. So we really want to take a focus on action and accountability and in SPS, we work to uncover and close opportunity gaps by transforming practices and engaging families as partners in student success. Next slide, please.

A great example of action and accountability is from the East Somerville Community School. Their DIBELS scores rose nearly 30 percent after they introduced The Spanish language equivalent of the exam and that gave educators a clearer picture of where student A clearer picture of student learning needs. So that is for their first grade at the East Somerville, which is wonderful. They also shared with me information from a project that was done by assistant principal. Stephanie, and she shared with me this data that she collected around staff reporting on how they were feeling They reported feeling more valued and saw positive changes in 24-25.

and that was driven by a meaningful PD collaboration and a really responsive administrative team. So thank you to Vice Principal Lugo for sharing that. Next slide, please. and this is our slide about our celebrations and observances. This list is in no way exhaustive, but it does highlight some of The celebrations and observances that we acknowledge throughout the district. It's also important to note that we do send out these information around these observances. and celebrations and via the newsletter and emails and I always send out the department always sends out information that encourages educators to avoid scheduling tests, major assignments, or field trips during these recognized religious and cultural observances.

This ensures that the students have the opportunity to fully participate in both their learning and in their personal traditions. And next slide is the end. Thank you. So I'm open for questions and suggestions and collaborative thinking.

All right, who has the first question? Mr. Green?

I actually have two, and so I will ask my big one first and then come back in the queue for a smaller one. Obviously, thank you. This is great. I really appreciate the slides. That show, like, at the East, where real progress has been made, etc. And I think that's where I want to focus my big question, which is I'm not giving any trade secrets when I say that the very idea of equity is under assault in our country right now and we are hearing it even locally around education where people I mistakenly believe this is all touchy-feely stuff that doesn't actually advance learning and that we are not doing the work we need to do to advance learning. You know, having been a CCNA for 10 years, I know it's not true, but I would wonder,

What we as a district can do to explain to the detractors from this work better the link between meaningful equity work and academic excellence.

So I think that some of that, part of that answer lies in the book that I've read a lot of times for the PD, The Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Brain by Zaretta Hammond. So it does show us a link that when children feel that they are, I'm just gonna use like loose terms, like more comfortable in their learning environment, That part of their brain and their limbic system that allows them to process information and make decisions isn't like taken over by the amygdala right so there's there is evidence that shows us that children are more able to process information and not so not just I think the other thing that's important is through that culturally responsive teaching We also look at it as an asset.

We really work to look at it as an asset-based teaching and instructional skills as opposed to deficit-based. So for example if we have students who are parentified perhaps at home and they come into school so by parentified I mean for one example could be that Perhaps the child is doing a lot of translation for their family with doctors or school meetings, etc. That kid taking that Looking at an asset base, we know that that child knows how to navigate spaces with adults really well. We know that that child has the ability to be able to articulate what not just what they're being told but like how to articulate it so how do we take that skill and translate that into the classroom to give that child choices and autonomy over their learning while still keeping them on a curricular schedule.

And I think we work really hard to do that and it's something we can continue to do. I hope, does that?

I think that you're answering Andre's question very well, but I think the bigger question is how do we communicate that more widely than just here, if I was hearing the question.

As much as I would love to be able to tell, because since you asked me questions, oh, go read this book that I've only read a third of, that doesn't seem like really the answer I should be giving. So how do we make that case in a way that's adjustable for people who aren't at policy walks? So you mean like in conversation, like if you're like at a... And as a district, like what we can say publicly and like is there a communication strategy, et cetera.

So I think an abridged version of what I just said like could suffice, but I think... having an understanding as long as we have an understanding of why it is important we don't have to know the exact workings of the brain but if we have a general understanding of why it's important and can support that with evidence that tells us like Here's I don't like but I think that sometimes when you start talking about percentages and evidence to people their brain I think also taking the approach of understanding what I found is understanding why people don't think it works. like having engaging people in a way like I want to understand why not you but like why don't you think it works can you explain and so on and so forth.

are able to express ourselves in a way I think that will give some, resonate with people a little bit more. Maybe not change their mind in the moment, but certainly keep them curious as opposed to closed.

Dr. Atkin? Thank you. Through the chair, Thank you for this. I tear up every time I hear about your amazing work because it is everything I want to see this district doing and I'm so proud that in the face of you know uh pressure that you know we're still joyfully continuing this so i again can't thank you for that enough um i will say that what mr green's A question made me think of it's not really directed at you but to the best of my knowledge we now have a communications director and we have one who has not been brought in front of this body and I understand why but you know We are in tricky times where communication around something like this matters. So I will say like one, my request

you know through the chair to the administration is that you know I know you have a lot going on but that if you're willing to work with the communications director to be communicating the the true value of this work you know I would appreciate it I think you know it then provides those of us who who see the event's value with like those talking points to be able to respond with um and then like secondarily I'd really love to meet the communications director or have them at least communicate with us because so that that um those are my requests and and again thank you you do amazing work thank you i had mr green and then miss parish that's my second question um

So every year, at least as long as Dr. Davis has been in the district, we have made positive progress on having a calendar that is responsive. and we do deep work and deep conversations about what does it mean to respect and acknowledge the holidays for which our publicist may celebrate we aren't going to take off school from. And we ask teachers to be mindful of these days, et cetera. And every year, including this one already, there are things that happen on holidays. And maybe that can't be helped, but I think it would be really helpful for us as a district to systematize what we mean when we say to teachers, be mindful of these days.

When we say to principals, be mindful of these days. and what that means, transparent, so that if, as I know it's happened at the Healy, you have to have a field trip during wash and sauna, parents can feel that they at least it was considered and it was a reason why it was done and people feel like they were heard because without that I think what happens is I don't think I know what happens is that we say these things People see, oh, my kid's a test on one of my holidays or whatever. You didn't think about that. And sometimes it's true. Sometimes the teacher missed it. And sometimes it's not true. Sometimes it was thought about and decided for. But parents don't know that, so they feel unheard. and it feels like there's this huge disconnect between our rhetoric here in the school committee, the horseshoe, and parents' lived experience. And whenever that disconnect is felt, you know which side they're gonna land on.

So I just think if we could take some time this year to really like flesh out what does it mean when we say, hey, teachers, be mindful these days in a way that probably doesn't leave all the work on the classroom teacher, obviously. and then we transparent with families would go a long way to putting some meat behind our rhetoric.

I just if I could just say what you said really resonated with me I'm part of a religious minority I'm a member of the Baha'i faith so growing up and even as a grown-up now there are high holidays that people I know it didn't require a response, but as you were speaking, I just wanted to let you know that that really resonates, I'm sure, with all of us, but me in particular, being a religious minority.

I just want to respond to part of the comment or the entire comment. But first, I do welcome the question about how do we communicate complex matters like the ones that we have been discussing, everything about curriculum, Everything about cultural responsive language. All that is somewhat jargon that often gets in the way. How can we do it better? I welcome the feedback and I definitely it's part of I know you haven't met Daryl yet. He was here today. We talked about having been here present, but so that's my fault again. I'll make sure that he comes in Be present with you in this space. But I do really think that there is a piece about how in these days community needs to understand language that is simple and similar to everyone. Thank you for that. I think it's part of addressing the issue of trust.

And then the second thing around calendar, yes, we have had these conversations. I am obviously cognizant that we have had a couple of instances in which the calendar hasn't been So obviously there's one more thing we need to do around that. But both of them, both of the comments I feel that are part of what we have done, and again, it hasn't resulted in different outcomes, so we definitely need to look at that in a different way. But thank you for the feedback.

Thank you, through you, thank you so much for being here and for this presentation tonight. I found the quotes about seat Really compelling. So thank you for sharing those. And did you say that this was new last year?

We have done YPAR and CPAR projects in schools kind of here and there, but this was the first year that we launched it that we had it in every school and Harvard fellows in every school and facilitators for SPS in every school. OYPAR is youth-based participatory action research and CPAR is critically based participatory action research.

Thank you. I assume this is something you anticipate doing again, and I'm just curious about when you expect to roll it out, how students can find out about About participating and is it something that happens after school? Is it during the school day?

So the first part is we are going to be rolling it out probably early October because we need to wait for the fellows to get to Harvard and like get settled and get a grip on themselves. and then the second part of your question is how can students learn about it we do put it that I put it in the superintendent update that goes to the principals. I also have dialogue with the principals and they put it in their newsletter that goes home to parents. Additionally, we have sign-up sheets in the schools like on the middle grade floors for kids to be able to sign up. It happens during school. One of the things that I was really I think what we felt very strongly about and that the principals were actually really keen on as well was having a seat happen during the school day Otherwise, it's really not equitable.

So there is one school that we're not able to do it during the day because of their very tight schedule, but we are going to do it after school, but we have really made Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks for the fantastic presentation. I echo my colleague, Ms. Barish's, I'm curious about SEAT, which sounds phenomenal, and I'm excited. It was really nice to hear from Principal Soto. What is the commitment that we have with of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Is there a particular contract or does it get upped every year? I'm just wondering. What at some point could we be at risk to not have their support and have to do in-house? So how are we managing that?

So the way that SEAT came about The short answer to your question is I don't think we have a contract with Harvard. The person with whom I work is a professor at Harvard with whom I'm partnering. is a professor at Harvard and they oversee the CPAR program. So the CPAR project or program is actually listed in the PD catalog and educators can take it and they can take it for college credits. at Harvard. I took that course whatever year that COVID hit because we never got to do our final presentation in person, so the 19-20 school year. and just in conversations with that professor we thought how wonderful it would be to have it throughout the schools. It was in some of the schools. That person is also a Somerville parent.

So that's how that partnership is working currently but you sharing out or asking a question about the contract is That's something that I need to look into because I don't want that resource to leave.

I think you get the gist of where I'm at with the sustainability of something. I don't want to call it an add-on. It's an incredibly enriching thing, but we also know that Sands are shifting in all different ways and thinking about what kind of commitments or you know you guys know better whether or not it's appropriate whether it's a contract or however way you want to structure it but um or if we have to develop capacity in-house at some point. So I'm just thinking about how do we not make this something that shifts out and I appreciate your thinking on that.

Dr. Phelps?

Just through you or picking up on that topic from Member Pitone, wondering if we could get Gretchen to come to Ed Programs to share more about what she's been doing. I mean, she's been doing this work in our district for a long time, and it's amazing. We should know about it.

And also just speaking of student voice, this is really a question for the superintendent, but do you have any thoughts on when we might get our student reps for the school committee? It's probably a question for Ms. Kirsten, but I just wanted to flag that since we were talking about student voice. So thank you for that reminder. Okay, are there any more questions for Ms. Galitano? All right, seeing none, thank you for being here. Thank you all.

That was the end of the report.

Okay. We have a couple of subcommittee reports and some simple things to approve, but we can skip down.

Point of order, pardon me, Chair. Yes. Just confirming, there's no public comment tonight?

There was no public comment, no. Thank you. Yep. Thank you for checking. I didn't actually say there's no public comment so I appreciate you double checking that. So we can skip down since we have our city partners here and go straight to the Cummings School Warming Center and renovation. I'm not sure who would like to speak to that first. Madam Mayor?

Sure. So I would. Thank you. I just want to say, are you going to take up the resolution?

Yeah, I was going to come back to everything. I just was figured in honoring

yes deference to your staff that are all here that i figured i would take that out of order okay thank you so i'd i'd like to start off with a few words if i may madam chair Thank you. So I wanted to address some of the discussion that occurred last week. I know that the conversation got heated and I want to acknowledge The fear and the trauma of having another winter hill. No one wants that and certainly we do not want that in On the city side and since day one after the Winter Hill incident, I had directed our Office of Infrastructure and Asset Management

to put together a strategic assessment, so planning on all our buildings to understand the status of them. So there would be a reduction in any possibility of future incidents. We must and we are preparing for the unexpected. And not only did we hear you, we share the same goal as you. So tonight I want to share You know what my team is ready to do. As my predecessor, Before me, the city was here for Somerville Public Schools when the East Somerville Community School had its fire.

And my team mobilized very quickly. To support the Winter Hill. And we are here for you no matter what we face. My team has shared a memo detailing the basics of what the response would look like if we had an incident tomorrow. We can't share some of the details But I want you to know, ever since the Winter Hill, we've been in conversation with several community partners with large properties. These are relationships that are built in trust, they are fluid, and at their request, for a range of reasons, we can't share the full details. But the commitments are there and including Tufts University, which has allowed us now to share that information.

We can take action. So the steps would be, our process would be built on both emergency response best practices and real world experience. We would take action with hours and days, not just months. And like with Winter Hill, I'm willing to deploy significant resources across All of the city departments to wrap around any school that is impacted. So at our last meeting, Director Bill Fisher of our Office of Emergency Management is eager to take the next steps. that will make a partnership with Somerville Public Schools, many city departments, and stakeholders in the region and across the state.

That's why we've advocated for a continuity of operations plan and it is part of the memorandum of understanding that we're reviewing today. I know this item is about the Cummings School and its use as a warming center. But I want you to know that as we partnered with you last year and what we would like to do this year, we saved lives. And I'm asking you to consider doing so. again and recommitting to an emergency management process to address your concerns.

Are there questions from my colleagues?

Thank you, Chair, through you to Madam Mayor. Thank you for this memorandum that you've shared. I also just want to back up for a moment and talk about the city's response to the structural failure at the Winterhill School and the tremendous effort that the city undertook to to repurpose the Edgerly School and mobilize partnerships with other entities to make space for our Winter Hill students. That was a really difficult time. This was before I was on the school committee and I saw

in action what you've described as moving heaven and earth to make sure our students and teachers had a place to go That was a really trying time and we've now mobilized the Edgley School and made it a wonderful home for our students. It is not everything that the students and families and teachers maybe would hope for in this interim period. It's really difficult. But I think the work the city has done to this to this date has been to the strong benefit of our students so I just want to thank you for that. and also for articulating in this memo the process through which you would respond to a future incident.

I think for me the key section is stating that we will work with Tufts and in the event that there is another That information is really critical. there's some not that that wouldn't also be difficult but there is some comfort for me in that and i just want to thank you for pulling this information together and responding to what the body has requested here so thank you.

Thank you. If I may, Madam Chair, I should acknowledge I have six of my staff here today. So I would really, if you guys could please raise your hand. They spend 12 hour days and they spend, you know, times here and they work. Thank you. Thank you.

Through you. A year or so ago when we were initially presented with this opportunity, this request to have a warming center at the Cummings School, it sounded at the time like, and I think it was Mr. Raish, I saw the Cummings School again at the time as a potential future swing space and the city was considering what improvements might need to be made to that building in order to This document suggests to me that you know through some city processes and review that the TAB building looks like a better option. I don't know the TAB building that well I've only been in there a few times to you know visit administrators or to

Attend events or you know various other things and I well I understand that it was once a school building to me having been there it feels like it's very far from a school building now so I'm just curious about what um Besides just moving people and their offices out of the building, sort of what it would entail to get that building back to a place where it could accommodate students and teachers in a good learning environment.

If I'd like Ralph and Nikki to come up and chat. Thank you.

Hi there, Nikki Spencer, Chief of Staff, and I'm tag teaming with Ralph Henry, Deputy Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management. In an interim, immediate, next day type of situation, the TAB is preferable. It's a higher quality building currently. It does have current classroom space. It is not ideal for a permanent solution. I think bathroom space, for instance, it would be a limiting factor. And so that would be something that like Tufts did for us During the Winter Hill, we didn't, you know, we were able to mobilize quickly to finish out the school year. And as a result, we're able to get time to prepare the Edgerly building. So the TAB is not a long-term solution to the points that you raise and through the chair I should say. However we would be looking at you know a number of options as we said in our

Memo for a more permanent solution and the tab would buy us time to ensure that instruction continued.

Thank you. Through you to the mayor to begin with. I appreciate your words. I appreciate you being here tonight. I grew up in Louisiana, as you all know. And in Louisiana, school systems and municipal governments are separate entities with their Their own infrastructure, their own taxing powers, they're completely separate. So one of the things I had to get used to when I moved to Somerville and Massachusetts in general is the fact that here, the schools and the cities and towns aren't a marriage. And like all marriages, there are times when the parties, however in love with each other may be, have fights. And in my experience, which makes blessing, one thing that has never worked in a marriage is to tell your partner to calm down. It has never once in the history of arguments worked.

It is true that there is real trauma around the Winter Hill School. It is true that if school committee members aren't thinking about What we would do if another building went offline where we were not doing our jobs. And it is also true that the Heated Words, as it was put, two weeks ago, wasn't just about that. A year ago, when we agreed to do the Warming Center, We did it on a condition. By no reasonable definition of the terms were those conditions met. To say that we feel disrespected by that is an understatement. We made an agreement.

The city did not keep its side of that deal. Now, we're being asked to renew the agreement The terms that in the next year, the city will do what it pledged to do a year ago. You can understand why that might make us upset. Furthering that upsetness is the fact that we are being held, in a very real sense, hostage. Realistically, no one expects us to vote to close the warming center. The benefit it does to the community is real. I did not take this job to vote to kill unhoused people. And yet, The terms are still not sufficient. I don't know how else to put it. It is a step in the right direction. I appreciate knowing there is a short term plan.

I appreciate knowing the process for the development of a long-term plan. Those are both good things. What I do not have and what I know is probably the hardest part is What would be the medium term plan? Yes, we can use the tab, although I want to point out that we're currently paying $1.2 million a year for office space in a building we used to own. And that's already maddening. But as Ms. Spencer pointed out correctly, it's not a good long-term solution. So I can see it being used as a holding space while we figure out, even for the rest of a school year, What do it look like?

But that part of the plan, which I think is frankly probably the most important part of the plan, is still missing. I have done enough negotiations to know that it's entirely possible, perhaps even probable, that there are contingency plans there that would not be appropriate to share an open session. I encourage you and your lawyers to find a way to share with us either through our lawyers or through a session or something. Like give us the missing piece of the puzzle. Thank you.

Yes, so we did talk to the lawyers about going into executive session, but they said that this was not something we could go into executive session about.

To clarify, when you say the lawyers, do you talk to our lawyers?

Our city solicitor.

Okay. I would encourage you, even if it's just to share things to speak to our lawyers about the situation sooner rather than later. Thank you.

So my question is, what do you need from us tonight? Or what are you asking from us tonight?

To vote for the MOU. To sign it.

and it's so it is some I don't think we have a specific motion listed anywhere so I just need to know what it be motion to authorize the superintendent to sign this MOU if I'm understanding correctly

We can decide that.

I was asking the mayor what it is she was hoping from us tonight. Dr. Phillips and then Mr. Vitone.

Um, first of all, I was really mad two weeks ago and to the staff that I let my anger out on, I apologize. You didn't need me to be shitty to you and I apologize. and to the city, I appreciate that you heard me and that you put a plan together that is a pretty good MVP plan from where I sit. Is it what we asked for a year ago? No. Did it take me getting in a tiz twice to get? Yeah. But I'm really glad to have it right now. My colleagues I've heard like some rumblings like this is not enough on this plan the MOU we just got can't vote on it tonight I'm wondering if we have specific feedback about either Things that we need in order to vote on it and take a vote because I would hate for us to get to the next meeting and be unable to vote.

I'd love for the city to know what our problems are so they can Fix it before then. And then the last thing I wanna say to all of us is, In the last six years, I think we've learned a lot about what our power is. And we do have power here. And we do want a warming center, just like the city. and we also want a really good MOU and a really good emergency plan and our task is to balance it all right so that's what we have to do between now and the next two weeks unless we're ready to vote Now, but I didn't hear that from people yet. Mr. Biton.

Thank you, Chair, through you. I think last meeting I was I will not say that I was, I won't use the same word Sarah used. I think I was probably disappointed dad. Maybe Sarah you might have been like drunk angry dad or like. Well, I think there was various levels of dissatisfaction with the response that we got. I've looked at the MOU. I have no serious concerns with it. I didn't write it myself, so it's of course not going to be exactly what I would have written, but I think it meets the spirit of what we've I've been looking for in my opinion

I also think that we as a body have made a number of requests over the last ballpark two years around Contingency Plans, if there is another displacement, Swing Space. We've requested swing space planning. We've requested the short-term plan. To my colleague Mr. Green, through you, Chair, I don't think I've heard a request for a medium-term plan. Or at least today is maybe the first time I've heard that. I don't think it's a bad idea, but I don't think we've asked for that in the past. So as far as releasing the Cummings School, For the purpose of a warming center, I am satisfied and Is this a place for a motion?

I move to authorize the superintendent to sign the MOU as presented in our packet.

Thank you through you, Chair. I was silenced last meeting because I was remote and for some reason the Zoom was down so I could not engage in the conversation. without a lot of support from the administrative assistant. And that is something that happened. And although some of the Energy was intense that I watched delayed. I very much appreciated the spirit of where my colleagues were coming from. However, I also want to compliment the city. It may not be when we wanted it, but seeing this memo really did make me feel like we were being heard and that the city was on the same page with us that we all want contingency plans and we did not have them

I know we'll be frank I've at least been asking them for eight years so when this idea of the warming center came up it was our first opportunity to sort of create a little leverage to make that happen and it's unfortunate that we needed as a school committee to have leverage to make a commitment but clearly we're Moving forward together now, the city and the district, and I'm really appreciative of that. But I want to just point out that this is not an issue with the current administration. This is something that has been through multiple administrations, and it also reflects that this was not simple. If it was really easy to come up with some kind of plan, it would have been done. And it wasn't. I also want to note that I have not read the MOU. We got it this afternoon. There wasn't really an opportunity to look at it. I personally don't ever feel comfortable reading, particularly something legal. Skimming it and saying A-OK. I don't know how different this is from the one that our lawyers, the school committee lawyers, put together.

We didn't receive anything that explained the changes. Usually when we get documents like this, they're usually redlined. I don't even know if our lawyers have looked at this version. I'm not implying that it's not a good version. It might be excellent, but I'm certainly not willing to vote on it this week. it's unfortunate I would love to make a decision because I do want to support the warming center but just my responsibility as a school committee member I can't Glance at something and then say, yay, let's pass this. So I don't know if we can get any feedback, whether or not, A, our school committee lawyers have looked at this, and B, what are the significant changes? I don't necessarily need a red line, but how has that changed from the original version?

Madam Mayor? Thank you. Through you, Chair. So the changes were... It had said two to three locations. Two to three was changed to viable. Financial analysis, the word analysis was changed to impact. And all is as our, To remind everybody everybody as our CFO has said everything is subject to City Council approval so that language was put in there and and the sorry and I just wanted to say we would be using the school building stabilization fund and that's on our city's website so everybody can always see what's in there

Point of order. By my take on this, this being a new document, this will be our first reading, so wouldn't we need to suspend the rules to approve it tonight?

I think that's technically correct, but we do frequently have things for a first reading and then bring back some edits for the second reading. So I will think on that one and call on President Davis.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for the discussion on this. Member Pitone hit pretty much the exact crux of my question, too, and my understanding, because I did read the one that we saw two weeks ago. I skimmed this one and it looks pretty much the same but I think what we just heard from the mayor that this is and somebody correct me if I'm wrong so let me phrase this question am I correct that this is that the one we had last week was was drafted by our Council, the school committee's council. Sounds like it was reviewed in the interim and some very I want to say minor, they sound like they're relevant, important changes, but not significant changes, at least in volume, were made to that version. Through you, Madam Chair, to whomever can answer that. Is my understanding correct on what we have before us?

That is my understanding, but maybe someone from the city can speak to that.

Hi there, Nikki Spencer, Chief of Staff through the Chair. Yes, the original document was drafted by the school committee's council. We went back and forth with I think a few edits to the one that was submitted two weeks ago. Since then, we submitted the edits that the mayor outlined. I think those are the the substantive ones there might be one or two words in addition to that but they are for the most part minor mostly had to clarify that any appropriation of funds would have to be voted through the council

Thank you, Madam Chair. Through you to the Chief of Staff, thank you for that confirmation. I share some of the the views that were that were conveyed by my colleagues I think that while it'd be lovely to have a fully stood up and ready to go swing space I think in my opinion that's not really practical given just all sorts of Practicalities. We'll just leave it at that. I appreciate that what was explained to us. I understand the need for, you know, when you have third parties that They might not want folks to know exactly what those conversations have been, but this certainly sounds to me like a much more clear and concise explanation of what we effectively heard About a year ago in the joint meeting of the city council and school committees building and maintenance, facilities building and maintenance, or whatever we call it. I never get the sequence of the words right.

School building, facilities, and maintenance. And so it's consistent with sort of what I've understood was effectively the plan all along, but I think it's really important and I very much appreciate I just want to also call out the fact that those two committees exist, that we do have these joint meetings. The one dislocation that was not mentioned was the Brown School, which I experienced as a parent. This has happened now. I mean, the fire was maybe a little bit of a different scenario. The conditions that led to some of those issues were a primary driver in us forming those two committees that have those joint meetings.

I'm comfortable that we as a city through the administration, the city council, and the school department are in a much different place vis-a-vis our buildings than we were even three, four years ago. Maybe not exactly where we'd all love to be just yet, but I'm hopeful. We heard in committee recently about work that is planned on other buildings because there is now much more proactive, as I understand it, much more proactive review much more proactive action on replacing the roof at the at the west for example so you know hopefully We'll also avoid the need for this, but I'm comfortable that we have something in my understanding, and this will be my final question, Madam Chair, through you. What is the timing consideration? If we were to wait two weeks for folks to fully digest the MOU, Where would that put the city in terms of being able to stand up the warming center and have it ready when it's needed?

Do whoever can address that.

I'm happy to uh through the chair I'm happy to try to answer that there is no deadline that I can give you however In order to get the warming center up and running, we do need to begin our work with a potential provider. They need to start staffing. They need to start logistics. So while I can't say that there's like a do or die date, we are in crunch time. We really need to get this done. And so sooner is much better in terms of adopting a plan. And I apologize. If I misunderstood the question.

Quick follow-up, if I may, on that, just through you to the Chief of Staff. And that provider, that requires a regular RFP process to bring them on board, right? Do I understand that correctly?

Through the Chair, my latest understanding is that we may be able to do this through a grant agreement. That is still in flux. However, either process is a process and we do need to get that done. and it's dependent on having a building to be able to do it in. Thank you.

I have Ms. Barish, then Mr. Green, then Dr. Ackman.

First, I apologize. I think I was, you know, processing something someone had just said when the mayor said I thought something about something would be paid for by the school building stabilization fund. And can you just repeat what you said, or maybe I totally heard you wrong?

Sure. Through you, Madam Chair, I said there are funds in the stabilization fund. Because I believe some of the language before or a couple of weeks ago was like analysis and we use impact. and people are saying appropriations also have an expiration so it's like where is the money and I that's where I was trying to explain that the money exists in the school building stabilization fund.

Potentially, if a school goes offline.

Yes, which is the same fund of money that we used for the Winter Hill. Thank you.

I apologize. I thought that you were talking about the Cummings School when you said that and I was like I thought the MOU was stating the exact opposite. So thank you so much for that clarification. Can I just ask one other thing? I sympathize with my colleagues who have not had a chance to review this version of the MOU. I was only able to do it because I don't work on Monday afternoons. I also understand the desire on the city's side and the need to get things moving along with the contract. Is this something that we could have potentially a quick special meeting about next week so that we don't have to wait two weeks? I'm just curious. It looks like maybe there's no appetite for such a thing among colleagues.

We can think about that while I call on Mr. Green and then Dr. Ackman.

So, first of all, thanks, President Davis. My first question was, what is the drop-dead date? With the caveat that I've cheated, I've spoken with Ms. Spencer and Director Raiz before me on that question. And so I appreciate The city's desire to move quickly. Again, as frustrated as I am, I'm never going to be successful. I'm going to vote against a warming center for our most vulnerable residents. But unless you can tell me that waiting until our next regular meeting to vote this through will impose some internal cost or burden on the city, If only it's just a matter of, for like Mr.

Tone, just basic respect to give us time to actually read and digest the final version before asking us to vote on something. Now, if you can tell me that like, There's a real cost beyond preference to waiting those two weeks. I'm willing to hear that argument. But lacking that, I would like to have the time to actually read the contract, which I haven't had a chance to do.

I would also like to just clarify that we actually, our next meeting is in three weeks. So I'm just making sure everyone is aware of that. Dr. Ackman.

Thank you to the chair that that was something that I was going to mention as well I wanted to call my colleagues attention to I think it's point number five that and I don't know if this is my attempt at like you know successfully Spitting a hair or whatever but that you know it notes that each party has the right to terminate this MOU with or without cause so I say that only because like if there is need for haste and if we are not you know or if we choose to wait I don't really know how I feel about either one but like Any of us can bring this up at any point if we you know haven't gotten what we want and we can choose as a body

to terminate this you know uh it would be giving the city 30 days notice but you know that it's just another i don't know arrow in the quiver Am I wrong? Eleanor is good at pointing out when I'm wrong. Yeah. Ms. Barish?

Oh, I don't mean to say that you're wrong. I just think it would be unfortunate to have to cancel the MOU and leave folks literally out in the cold because we didn't have an opportunity to digest this properly. That feels like it would be a really unfortunate outcome, but thank you for bringing it up as a possibility. Mr. Biton.

Thank you, Chair. I will just note that there's a motion on the table. I don't know procedurally, but I think it needs to either be seconded or killed.

It needs to be seconded.

Thank you.

Oh, and I had Dr. Phillips' hand was up.

thanks i have a another question while we consider this but since the floor is still open i want to raise it which is um we passed the motion approving the Warmth Center originally in September of 2024. And everyone who's here tonight Essentially, or the person who was in your role before you was here when we passed the motion. So everybody knew what was in the motion when we passed it in September. So everyone knew we wanted an MOU, and everybody knew that we needed an emergency plan. And we, I think, Ms. Pitone, if I'm remembering correctly, very explicitly did not assign that task to our district administrators because we don't control the buildings, right? We assign the task to the city. And we didn't hear anything about it until I raised it again in June of 2025, nine months later.

and then we didn't hear anything about it until August and what we got in August was the MOU saying in a year you might get this emergency plan And I guess my question to everyone is what's the root cause of this disconnect? How can one of the elected bodies of the city of Somerville pass a motion that says this needs to happen and then it just not happen and how can we make sure that doesn't happen again because I really want to work in great partnership with the city and do great things but I can't if we don't have a trusting relationship and ignoring the motions that this body passes breaks my trust every time. So I'm really glad for the repair and I don't want to do it again. So how can we fix it?

Sure, so what I'd like to say is that Bill Fisher has been working on a continuity of operations plan, and that's what he was talking about. was presenting a couple of weeks ago so that's something that we've been talking about the issue is the details because our partners did not want us to give specifics. So we really pushed in terms of getting Tufts to say that they would be a location and our other partners are not willing to say what.

you know their locations did I you're looking at me so did I misunderstand your question I I think so my question was we we passed this motion last September why was there no follow-up on it

from the City side ever took me, following it up on June, and me again two weeks ago. That's the root cause, the disconnect I'm hoping we could resolve. My hunch, I mean, I could give you my interpretation. I could be wrong, but...

Spahn. Through the chair, I want to recognize that frustration. I think we have a few more building blocks, frankly, in the city's toolbox for, I'm just mixing metaphors already. For a comprehensive emergency management plan, we do have Director Fisher here tonight. He and Deputy Director Lorne Mahoney have been working on a comprehensive emergency management plan for the entire city. A year ago, we did not have a director of emergency management, but we were doing all of the work to build what you have before you today. The conversations that we've been having with those partners that the mayor has outlined have shifted every couple of months. But I understand that it's frustrating that you don't have something more concrete in front of you.

Director Fisher is willing and ready to start this process immediately with the schools at the table so that they are providing direct feedback on how all of these steps would actually happen in real time. Unfortunately, we had an opportunity through the Winter Hill to really vet a lot of those processes, but we in the city have been Working internally on our own on the improvements that IIM is conducting on the buildings to prevent it. That took a lot of our time over this past year and so I hear the frustration, and as Chief of Staff working with these departments, I want to assure you that the last year was spent still on high quality work to prevent the next emergency.

and to ensure that we had the relationships and the plans ready but you don't have something more concrete in front of you you will have it and within the lines of this MOU within the next six months We will continue to work with our partners to see what we can share publicly. As outlined in the MOU, we will have a continuity of operations plan, as the mayor stated. And I think having that generative, that sort of connective tissue with our Office of Emergency Management now fully staffed will help a lot. But I want to acknowledge the frustration our MOU is holding us to account in a real way. We intend to honor that. As Chief of Staff, I will certainly, with the Mayor's Office, be

A part of this and helping to generate it and I know the folks in this room tonight will be part of that process as well including our partners at the school side.

I had Mr. Green, Ms. Barish, Dr. Phillips, Mr. Green.

Thank you. Through you, I first of all want to thank Dr. Phillips for that comment about repair. I think that is true as far as it goes, but to extend the management of foreign time, you can't start repair until you acknowledge harm. And like, the reason there's no trust is because even now, the city still hasn't admitted you didn't meet up to sign the agreement. Acknowledging that, as Dr. Phillips pointed out, an elected body of the city passed the resolution of the signing thing and the city just ignored it would go a long way. It's hard. and if you come to us in December and said, hey, it's gonna take us longer than we thought to give you the answer you wanted, we'd have gone, ah, that sucks, but we get it. So the question is, How do we know that when we do this again, you're going to do it?

And with all the respect in the world, and I'm not apologizing for my behavior last week because I was at a point of not attacking. the people who weren't here a year ago who were here. What I just heard was that you find MOU more binding then a unanimous decision of the Somerville School Committee. And again, that's kind of disrespectful. So like there can't be trust without respect. and right now, I don't think the city respects us as a body, which makes it really hard for me to agree to do anything

I have Ms. Barish, Dr. Phillips, Mr. Biton, Ms. Barish.

I think Mr. Green said essentially what I was thinking, which was Dr. Phillips asked a question and the response was, What I understood their response to be was, if you don't want this to happen again, we need a legal document which is an MOU signed by both parties, which is not, to my thinking, an acceptable solution. A resolution from this body, like Mr. Green said, should be a weighty enough document to cause action and response. It's expensive to have our lawyers write up an MOU every time we ask anything of the city. or come to an agreement with the city even. And B it's time consuming as we're seeing here tonight.

So I think there needs to be a better solution than we have an MOU now and we will honor it.

Through the chair, if I can just respond, and I apologize for misspeaking. This is a process that needs to happen regardless of an MOU that gets passed tonight. I think what we were trying to set up two weeks ago with Director Fisher here is that the work of emergency management has progressed to the point where this is the natural next step. This needs to happen. We will do it. I pointed out MAU because it has a specific timeline, but this is an important part of keeping our school communities safe and ensuring that Our operations continue no matter what. So the city is committed to this process. You don't have to hold our feet to the fire with this MOU per se. It will certainly give you leverage and a legal agreement and if we don't hold up our end of the bargain you have other tools within it but we should do this process

We're ready and we have an Office of Emergency Management who is ready to convene it based on the tools and the conversations that we've had over the past year. So I apologize for misspeaking. I don't want to give the impression that this is the only reason that we would do it. It is an important thing that we should do.

Dr. Phillips.

Thanks to you, Chair. Apologies, but I want to belabor this point because I think it's a continuing issue that we have as a body, which is... I'm going back to my original question and trying to ask it a different way to see if I get the answer. I'm a systems and structures girl. It seems like our systems broke down, right? We passed a motion. Consciously, not asking our staff to do anything because it's not in their purview. We asked the city to do something. We directed them. And my question is, when we do that, which we do from time to time, Who tracks that? Who notes what we demanded, when we demanded it, and what's happening? I don't know if that's to the mayor maybe.

Thank you so I would assume that so first of all we should follow through there's no question on that and I will make sure that we do better on that The superintendent and his staff and I meet every two weeks. That is a venue to say if something came up and I was not at school committee, how does that information get passed to us? I'd say that that is a perfect place or it's from the meeting minutes Actions that get sent to us to say, hey, these were requests to the city. So those are a couple of ways that I would say. They could be done because the superintendent usually updates us every two weeks about requests.

that come in either from his administration or now we can make sure from the school committee.

Mr. Biton and then Dr. Phillips.

Thank you, Chair, through you. I find this conversation completely bewildering. We have asked the city to develop an MOU with the school committee. They have done that. In fact, our lawyers prepared an MOU Itemizing all of the elements that we requested. Yes, not on the timeline that we wanted. I also feel disrespected as a member of this body. that we went a year from when we first released the Cummings School to be a warming center and the city comes back hat in hand a year later

Finally, just proposing that MOU that we provided. Yes, so I too could spend the next three weeks Feeling my feelings of disappointment. But I'm very pragmatic about this. What will that accomplish? I welcome my colleagues to answer that question. What will we, and I see I have a colleague who wants to express that, what will we gain in the next three weeks? Fine. If reading it over carefully what our lawyers drafted for us and has been reviewed by Our administration who I trust and the mayor's team and those bodies find it acceptable.

I've reviewed it not letter by letter but I'm satisfied. I guess I just I want to know what is going to be different in three weeks. We're not going to have A swing space plan in three weeks. We are not going to have construction plans for the Cummings School in three weeks. So what I'm seeing in front of me is what we asked for in a version that kind of meets what we asked for. Yeah, sure, I'm disappointed too, but it's time to move on. I don't see a strong, compelling factor to delay further. Other than to Stu in that disappointment. That's something we need to work on with our city partners and I'm there with you because we need to build that trusting relationship.

Thanks.

So I have Dr. Phillips, President Davis, and then Mr. Green. Dr. Phillips.

Through you, Chair, I guess to Member Biton, I'm out of here in four months, and I don't want to do this again. I want it so that when the school committee passes a unanimous motion to the city, the city is not relying on our staff who we didn't pass a motion aiming something at that the city's tracking it and will follow through on their own. I think the meeting minutes that you're using to track what motions pass and what you need to do, that makes a lot of sense. But if we had wanted the superintendent and his team to build us an emergency plan, we would have assigned it to them. If we had wanted our lawyers to write us an MOU, we would have signed it to them. We didn't, right? And if there's a conflict, that's something you talk about right away. When we're making the motion, sorry, you can't do this, here's why. Or right after, sorry, like my colleague Mr. Green said, right? Come back to us in December and say sorry. We weren't paying, even in June when we brought it up, sorry, we weren't paying attention. Let's go back.

What I'm trying to make sure happens in the next three weeks, Maybe it's too much to ask for the next three weeks is that when this body makes a motion, takes a deliberate action, it happens. It's not just a happy motion by the superintendents Advisors, right? Like we are telling people to do things, to accomplish things because they need to happen. That's all.

President Davis and then Mr. Green.

Thank you Madam Chair. I appreciate this conversation. I want to kind of express it from the From my viewpoint, through most of this discussion as a member of another branch of the city government, and now as a member of this body as well. And I very much appreciate what I think is a very diplomatic way that it's being discussed by members of this body tonight. and this is my own interpretation, so if I'm wrong about any of this, the lawyers can let me know, I will stand corrected. To the best of my knowledge and understanding, the school committee was required to release the building for use as a warming center. That was done with conditions and those conditions were not met. So effectively, the administration occupied the building illegally. That's what I think is the core of the frustration here.

I want to say that, right? When I went back and when we were in committee and we heard how this all played out, I was very surprised that this is where we were and that MOU hadn't been signed. Who should have taken it up? Practically, that's the question, right? But from my perspective, the party asking for something who was then given that thing with conditions should have met those conditions. But I also agree that we're a year down the road. We need to keep people warm this winter. This is effectively the same document that I read last week. It was prepared by our lawyer. I'm very comfortable. voting to approve this tonight if that is allowed procedurally based on waiving the third reading.

As one member of this body, I don't see what would change in three weeks. and it's my opinion well if it comes to vote tonight I certainly would be in favor of supporting it because I'm not sure what other questions I could it you know the situation last year was what it was and it's pretty surprising to me but We can't go back and change things. We have now something in front of us that adds to the legal authority that this body has over use of the buildings, of that particular building.

Thank you.

Through you. So if I'm hearing my colleague correctly, I actually heard two questions there. One is, why are we having this conversation? And I think Dr. Phillips answered that very admirably. It's because we want to figure out how to never have to do that conversation again. We want to figure out what needs to be different going forward so that when the school committee says to city, hey, In working with you, this is what we want from you, and it happens. And why is this the reason to have this conversation right now is because it's one of the few places where you have unambiguous leverage. Speaking as a too long-term member of this body, I am reminded of the resolution we passed

in May of 2023, where we made it clear to the city, and I think it was the second time we made this clear, that, for example, we weren't gonna be in the business of leasing buildings to the city without a comprehensive building plan. We haven't really seen buildings. We haven't seen a building plan. And I want to be clear, this is not an issue with this administration. This is an issue about structuring things with administrations, period. How we structure systems with city government as a whole. So that's why we're doing it now, because this is a place where we actually have some ability to push back. To answer your question about changes in three weeks, to answer a separate question. And for me, it's as simple as I haven't had a chance to give it the read I would like to give it. That's a time thing. For example, The last version I read said we have an MOU in 12 months. Now I'm experiencing six months. This to me is a positive change, but it was not what I was aware of.

For me, it's just a matter of actually having time to read the document because I admit I skipped straight to what they were saying is for the plan because that was the part we raised two weeks ago. So for me, it's just a matter of having more time to know what's going on. Now again, if the city really wants to make a case that they need the issue tonight, that's a case I'm willing to listen to. Because again, I'm not predisposed to vote against a warring center. But if I have the time to do it right, I want to do it right.

So I'm going to make a practical suggestion that we have a short virtual meeting next Monday night just to vote on this to give people time to read it. How do people feel about that proposal? Well, but I'd have to have a quorum of people available to do it. And I'd like to hear any feedback on that. Yeah, Ms. Barish.

I'll be traveling and probably on an airplane, so I will not be available. Okay. But I like the idea. Okay.

Ms. Pitone? Through you, I also am going to be traveling and possibly still in transit, but if you want to work with the body to find a mutually agreeable time to do this during the day, during the evening, in the night. As long as we have enough time to announce the meeting, I am game.

Okay. I think that's going to be my proposal. Try for something early next week where I can get a quorum and we have time to post the meeting. It will be virtual. It will just have this on the agenda. It will give people time to read the MOU. So we do still technically have a motion on the floor. Do you want to rescind?

I'll rescind that. Thank you.

Alright, then with that, I will work with the body to make sure we can find a time early next week for a special meeting just to give everyone time to read this and vote on it. Okay, that brings us back to some reports of subcommittees. I will entertain a motion.

I move to accept the report of the Rules Management Subcommittee meeting from August 18, 2025.

I have a motion by Barish, seconded by Dr. Phillips. Ms. Pitone has a question before I... It's about the previous stuff, so let's finish this. Oh, okay. Sorry, I thought it was about this. Okay. All in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. Now Ms. Pichon, your question.

Thank you. Through you, and I apologize, I should have brought this up sooner. Mr. Green brought up the issue of use of the buildings without agreements with the school committee. I did want to ask the question about there was part of the Cummings that has been used for construction staging and for... Officing, Office Management, and I think, I'm not saying I want to hold up this necessary agreement, but I think we do also need to hash that out and make sure that we understand what the scope of use is and that we've authorized that use. unless I'm misspoken.

I think that makes sense. Madam Mayor, did you want to respond?

I was going to say, I mean, we can certainly look into it. I know there were staging uses with the high school. So if the request was done I don't know, seven, eight years ago? No? Okay.

In my time on school committee, the first time In my time on school committee, the first time, to this administration's credit, an administration has ever asked us about use of a building was when you came to us last year for the Cummings.

And just to be clear, as of this moment, the Cummings isn't being used for anything except for the warming center last year. Is that correct?

I don't know. I mean, you have SFLC.

I mean, you have some city school officers. Okay.

Yes. Through the chair, it is also an election site. So it has, apologies, yes, so storage, it was used for air filtration storage. up until very recently which was very important during COVID. There were sort of a numerous things supporting schools that were stored there and of course an election site. So glad to see that's in there.

Thank you. Okay, that brings us to the resolution in support of welcoming week. This is our second reading. Ms. Pitone did add a paragraph to it from our last meeting. The paragraph is in there in your packet. If there is no discussion, I will entertain a motion. Ms. Barish. Can you say that again? There was a paragraph added separately? Ms. Pitone added a paragraph. Oh, but it is in the document. It's in the document, correct. I just wanted to flag that that was different than our first reading two weeks ago. Yes. Ms. Patel? Motion to approve. I have a motion by Ms. Pitone, seconded by Dr. Ackman.

Is there any discussion? Ms. Pitone? Through the chair, I just want to thank the mayor and the administration for putting this together and adding the school committee's perspective. I think this is really important to be formal about the things we've been saying all along and the things we continue to do. as both a district and a city, and I'm happy to be signing this. Thank you.

All right, if there is no further discussion, all in favor? All opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to a second reading of the public school policy manual. I will entertain a motion.

I move to accept the revisions to file JCA controlled student choice.

I have a motion by Ms. Barish, seconded by Dr. Ackman. Ms. Biton.

Through the chair, thank you. I just wanted to thank the Rules Committee and Mr. Biton who did a lot of the legwork on this to be creating this interim version of it that I also want to acknowledge that just so everyone knows the sibling fairness assignment is kindergarten through eighth. I did a first read and I thought it included pre-k but that's not our policy and I just wanted to put that out there so anyway thanks to the members of the committee and Mr. Butone for making this happen all right um no further discussion all in favor

All opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to a motion to authorize me to sign something. The evaluation side letter

I move to authorize the chair to sign the evaluation side letter with the AFSCME Clerical Employees Union. Second.

Motion by Ms. Barish, seconded by Mr. Pitone. All in favor? all opposed motion carries and just for anyone watching at home who isn't familiar with these typically union side letters and other union documents are discussed in executive session so it seems like we're just rubber stamping but it is something we discuss in executive session

Through the chair I just want to acknowledge that this is an agreement that has come together through these unions and through the school committee to really enhance the evaluation process for the staff and so this was done in collaboration it's actually something that's incredibly important so I just didn't want to overlook and forget about the importance of this because this is something we agreed to do and coming to terms with a way that we can set standards and Set expectations, mutual expectations, incredibly important, so thank you.

Great, thank you for that context. Okay, we have some aplomas to approve.

I move to... approve diplomas for Lucius Flores of Somerville, Massachusetts and Ava or Eva Abate from Somerville, Massachusetts.

Motion by Dr. Ackman, seconded by Mr. Biton. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. Congratulations to our newest graduates. Okay, that brings us to some grants. I will entertain a motion.

I have a motion to accept all federal entitlement and continuation grants and all state continuation grants awarded to the Somerville Public Schools listed below a state grant called the Target Assistance Grant for the Winterhill Community Innovation Schools East Somerville Community School for $40,000. Second.

Motion by Ms. Pitone, seconded by Dr. Ackman. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. I just want to point out that was the grant that Dr. Boston Davis talked about earlier during her presentation. Okay, so now we have some donations.

School Committee accepts with gratitude the following donations. A monetary donation from Bristol Myers Squibb from Cambridge, Massachusetts for $24,000 so that all the fifth grade students get to attend Museum of Science and get admitted into that in alignment with the STEM week. Very exciting.

I have motion by Ms. Pitone, seconded by Ms. Barish. If there is no, oh, yep. Dr. Ackman, sorry.

Thank you. Through the chair, I would love to, I mean, congratulations, substantial sum of money. This is a great thing. I'm sort of curious, like, Is this just a one-time entry fee that is costing $24,000? Are we getting anything for our students? beyond that I guess like I think about you know there are other programs like for that for that sum of money I hope it's not just them going the Museum of Science one time but if it is that's you know at least it's not 24 grand out of our pocket I guess

Thank you to the chair it's my understanding I'd have to get some more information on this it's my understanding that that covers the the museum entrance tickets for every I believe Paula O'Sullivan also mentioned that includes the membership for our district I need to confirm that, but that is my understanding right now. I am happy to report back to the committee with some more clarity on this at our next meeting.

I would appreciate it if you're willing.

Mr. Green? I'd also just love to know a little bit more about how we got Myers Group to pay for this because you know that's one of a few places where philanthropy has a chance for growing is in corporate philanthropy so i just want to know more about how we're getting money from businesses and how we get more of it at that part okay um all in favor

All opposed? Motion carries. That brings us to item from committee members. Any items this week? Mr. Biton.

Thank you, Chair, through you. I want to bring to this committee and maybe to our Is it academic programs? Ed programs. Ed programs. Thank you. The one I don't attend. An issue around... Equity and drumroll please Bunsen Burners. So this is an issue that came up last year at the high school and In conversation in the district, And then sort of coming out of the building and facilities issue around Bunsen burners at our high school, we discovered that some of the

The middle school science classrooms that have the capability to run Bunsen burners were not operating anymore. That equipment was not operating. We received a memo that described why Subsequently we received a memo that described why the Bunsen burners and the equipment are not used in those certain classrooms. and it was because our grades six through eight science standards and our curriculum do not call for or require any special built-in equipment such as burners or sinks and that Four of our six K-8 schools don't have those equipment currently.

So the converse of that is that two of our schools do have those equipment, but they've been shut off. They've been shut off for equity. and in part for safety. And my request to the Ed programs subcommittee is to look at this and find out whether This is a decision that our school committee supports to remove the capability in those certain buildings to have this equipment operating or whether we want to revisit that decision. In my mind, This is a little bit conflating equality with equity, providing every student with equal means. by shutting off the capabilities in certain schools. Doesn't really feel equitable to me.

And in speaking with the district, and then also the principal and the teacher in the classroom. The teacher by the way was not consulted about this decision and how it impacted the kids in their classroom. I felt the need to bring this to school committee as a way to think about how equity is implemented in our district. So that's my request. I'm seeing a lot of confused faces so I'm not sure if maybe what I'm saying isn't clear or but that's my request.

I'll let Dr. Ackman. Yeah I mean I yeah. Typically in situations like this you can bring it offline, like you could have sent an email.

I have.

Not to me. As the chair of ed programs. Oh fair, yeah. Like if you're asking for it to be in ed programs. What I will say is my response is to the tone of the way you are using equity and like I presume that you have some evidence behind this because you're using it in what I see as a profoundly disparaging manner. I look forward to hearing more about it and I'll consider bringing it in front of Ed programs.

Yes, thank you and look forward to collaborating if that's your decision. I just want to offer one piece of clarity as that was mainly a decision that I made in collaboration with the superintendent. The decision was separate than the issue at the high school Bunsen burner and that was because within the I think it was Maybe the first or second week of school, there was a gas leak at the West and we had to evacuate the school. And it turned out that the gas was accidentally left on. So the school was evacuated. When we did some research as to where the gas was coming from, It came from a Bunsen burner. My team and I were a bit confused as to

Thank you for joining us today. For our students and the The need to evacuate the entire school to then have a team come in, that takes a significant amount of time. And then to also notice that That was only happening in one building. We felt like the risk did not outweigh the reward for very few students. and that was the decision that was made at that time. Separate than the Bunsen Burners at the high school and not in the name of equity. So I can understand that conclusion.

There was never a time when we made the decision when we said, because of equity, we're going to shut off the Bunsen burners. And so I just want to Clarify that from my perspective and from my team's perspective. And I can understand your logic in getting it towards, The language equity, but I just want to make that, you know, from my perspective in our decision making, that's why it was turned off was the safety.

Thank you for that clarification. And you're right, that is how I read it. And apologies if I misconstrued it. To my colleagues, I meant no disparagement, so just wanted to clarify that. Thank you.

This is a different topic, so okay. I recently learned that we have a additional after-school care provider Apollo I think functioning in our schools and I was Curious to know more about Apollo, how that impacts our ability to offer after-school care and if we could just get a general overview of whatever changes have happened in our after or out of school time programming. and how we may be serving our families differently this year than last year. That would be great. Thanks.

We have an out of school time presentation scheduled for sometime soon.

We do, and when we address the issue of waiting lists, because that has been one of the ones that I believe most of you have asked me about addressing. We did explore an external provider that was Apollo. Actually, we had a different external provider. It didn't work out that well. There was a transition that was somewhat difficult. We used Apollo at the Argenciano, and they, again, had to fill the need of addressing the waiting list, and then the follow-up on that was, where else do we extend capacity? And that was at the Kennedy. But I believe that that was a trajectory of, The projection of where we needed to address the issue of waiting lists and I believe that was Apollo was the name that was referenced last time we came to the There's a space, but I will double check with Rosanna. She will be coming in. The director of Out of School Time will be coming in to report on that. Yeah.

Any other items from committee members? Seeing none, do we have any condolences? All right, we are adjourned.

Everyone have a good night.